Revealing what he says ‘the biggest challenge’ which Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) faces after the unexpected departure of national coach Paul Farbrace, Sri Lanka selection committee chairman Sanath Jayasuriya said yesterday that “we need a lot of effort to come out of this situation as he (Farbrace) knows our team inside out.” Jayasuriya said so as he met the media, along with his fellow selection committee members Pramodya Wickramasinghe, Chaminda Mendis and Eric Upashantha, at the SLC headquarters in Colombo.

Farbrace left unexpectedly to take up post as England Assistant Coach, just a fortnight before the forthcoming England tour of Sri Lanka, carrying with him vital information, which Sanath says, pertaining to the team’s preparation for one of the most significant assignments of the national team this year, a Test and One-day series against England in England.

“This is a big question. We’ve been put in a desperate situation by his sudden departure. Farbrace knows our team inside out. Now we need a lot of effort to come out of this situation”, Jayasuriya said answering a question.

Marvan, likely replacement for Farbrace?

Jayasuriya hinted that Marvan Atapattu, the present batting coach of the Sri Lanka team, would fill the place created by the Englishman saying he needed to talk to Atapattu personally “on certain things” after the SLC meeting held on Thursday morning on the appointment of a new coach.

“Still you can’t announce (that Atapattu will be the next coach). I need to talk with him on certain things before the England tour”, he added.

Meanwhile Hirantha Perera said Farbrace left while he was on probation of six months under SLC after leaving the English country Yorkshire.

Chandimal succumbed to captaincy pressure

Meanwhile elaborating in length over his committee’s decision to rid young Dinesh Chandimal of captaincy responsibility in T20 cricket, before the forthcoming Ireland and England tour, while offering the position to Lasith Malinga until 2015, former Sri Lanka skipper Jayasuriya said Chandimal could not come out of pressure of being captain.

“We thought of getting the maximum from him nurturing him as a future captain. But he didn’t come out of the pressure of being the captain. We gave our fullest support. We think he needs to be concentrating only on his batting for some time,” he explained.

“Lahiru Thirimanne is a different player. He bats anywhere in the order and is good in all three formats. He can adjust to any situation,” Jayasuriya further explained justifying their decision to replace Thirimanne as the national vice-captain of Test, ODI and T20 teams.

Sanath, a present MP from Matara district, lauded SLC’s move to play a lot of ‘A’ team cricket in the recent past which enabled the national selectors to seek replacements, like Chathuranga de Silva and a lot more, for the national team whenever they needed.

Then it is time to rise up to the challenge. There is enough home talent to do that. Unlike in other occasions, Sri Lanka is not going to play cricket in winter this time. At the end, as far as test cricket goes, it is only waiting for loose balls and making runs out of them. That is exactly what most of the SL players including Dilshan seem to lack.

From todat Cricinfo:- ….SLC also confirmed it would not receive compensation from Farbrace nor the ECB, for Farbrace’s early departure. His contract had stipulated he give six months’ notice before leaving the role, but as he had quit within his six-month probationary period, that former clause was made void.

SLC will in effect have also lost a figure believed to be around Rs. 8 million (USD $60,000) on hosting the Yorkshire county side for a pre-season tour. The costs of tour had been the bulk of the compensation SLC paid for having Farbrace released early from his Yorkshire contract.

“We had the probation clause to benefit both parties,” SLC assistant secretary Hirantha Perera said. “From our side if he hadn’t gelled well with the team, we would have had the chance to terminate his contract. What we had been after is a settled coach for the 2015 World Cup”

What SL should remember before coming to the UK and dealing with the ECB is, as far as it goes here in the UK, “A win is a win”. Forget about the gentlemen’s game and get ready to stretch it as far as it is not illegal. I still remember how the England won the first limited over match after SL got test status – by under arm balling the last over. So come prepared!